Suzanne

Elfstrom

Director of Media & Public Relations / Account Supervisor

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Advertising is about marketing products and services in ways that connect with what’s going on culturally. While everybody recognizes the creative part of that, what interests me is the strategy behind it all — the research, the competitive intelligence, the media mix.

STORY

There are pop culture fans, and then there’s Suzanne. In high school she spent a year dressing like Rick Springfield. She once spent a day stalking Tom Cruise at Glacier Park International Airport. And when it came time to go to college, she had an unusually specific career goal in mind: to become the business manager for Jon Bon Jovi. “Behind the scenes, he had a unique business model that I thought was smart,” she recalls.

 

While her Bon Jovi plan ultimately went by the wayside, Suzanne’s personal passions and career path have remained intertwined. After all, pop culture and advertising are really just flip sides of the same coin. And as much as talent contributes to pop stardom, success is never unplanned. The planning is what fascinates Suzanne.

 

Here at the agency, that interest manifests daily through Suzanne’s insights into how paid, earned and owned media work together to drive client success. An early adopter of social media and search engine marketing, she has helped establish and hone our expertise in digital advertising. And, having spent years working on the client side as the consumer marketing manager at the Montana Office of Tourism, she understands how to build effective and transparent client-agency relationships from both sides. Bon Jovi’s loss is clearly our gain.

CONVERSATION STARTERS

Suzanne sucks the life out of electronic devices. Computers consider her desk a death sentence. It’s just plain freaky.

 

Suzanne loves to read and has an encyclopedic knowledge of films. But if you really want to get her talking, ask about how she organizes her books. There is a system, you see.

 

Suzanne’s great uncle was an infamous mobster who was executed at Sing Sing. It’s a good story, but not to be heard in a dark alley.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

Run Wild Missoula president
Missoula Youth Homes Run 4 Kids committee member and fundraiser
Montana Natural History Center auction committee member, chair of sponsorship subcommittee and fundraiser
Leadership Missoula 27 graduate
Destination Missoula CVB / marketing committee member (past)
University of Montana School of Business Administration guest speaker (past)
Missoula Job Service guest speaker, social media panel (past)
Project Management Institute, Montana chapter guest speaker, project management (past)

EDUCATION

Montana State University B.S., business with marketing option, graduated with honors
Second Wind Network certification in strategic and account planning, branding consultation, media planning / buying, health care roundtable
WebTrends web analytics
MediaWeek San Francisco The Media School

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